Vienna voted best city in the world

Vienna is famous for a number of things; its rich cultural history, a couple of famous composers (Mozart and Strauss), a waltz, and of course, a Wiener schnitzel. It’s also famous for being the best city to live in the world, an award it has retained for the third year in a row.

"European cities in general continue to have high standards of living because they enjoy advanced and modern city infrastructures combined with high-class medical, recreational and leisure facilities," said Slagin Parakatil, senior researcher at Mercer. "But economic turmoil, high levels of unemployment and lack of confidence in political institutions make their future positions hard to predict."

Baghdad was ranked as the worst city to live due to its high levels of crime and political instability.

"The top-ranking cities for personal safety and security are in politically stable countries with good international relations and relatively sustainable economic growth," Parakatil said. "Most of the low-scoring cities are in countries with civil unrest, high crime levels and little law enforcement."

Mercer's survey is intended to help governments and international companies compensate employees working abroad.

Did you go to Vienna on your gap year? If so, what did you think?

Vienna and Austria is a popular InterRailing destination for a gap year. For more information on InterRailing then see our InterRailing section, and for more information on Austria then see out Austria country section.